David Herrold

The walking hazards of text messaging

Posted by Dave | Filed under Communication, Mobile, Productivity

The instances of people doing bodily harm to themselves while walking the streets of London and sending text messages with their phones has increased to the point that the city of London has installed padding around lamp posts in certain parts of town.

The Daily Express says:

Six million Britons were injured last year bumping into lamp posts, bollards and litter bins while trying to walk and text on mobile phones at the same time.

New figures reveal that more than one in ten needed treatment for injuries including broken noses, cheekbones and even in one case a fractured skull.

Research among 1,055 adults discovered that 63 per cent concentrate so hard when they are texting that they become “blind” to objects around them.

Mobile phone users are now being advised to use template messages to speed up texting and look up every five seconds to avoid hazards.

I find this both funny and serious at the same time. This is very thoughtful of London politicians. It is also useful during the weekends for bar patrons who have a few too many to walk straight. I can appreciate that.

I would love to see the statistics for driving accidents caused by text messaging while driving. I suspect it happens more than we’d care to admit (I’m guilty of it, myself).

Isn’t this a bit like padding the highways with giant pillows so drunk drivers don’t hurt themselves?

Can’t we simply invest in hats and t-shirts warning our fellow pedestrians to “Stop texting and just walk!?”

Photo by mindshare

Tags: Mobile, sms, text messaging